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"I wanna play baseball."

"I'm busy, Sam." Sunny was elbows-deep in supper. Supper was a complicated thing around their house. She and Bronnie enjoyed a balance between rare meat and salad, while Hecate was exclusively vegetarian, and Sam's own dinner was usually bits of fruit and insects. Sunny tried to push worms--she knew they were very high in protein, at the very least--but Sam much preferred crickets and mealworms and other crawly things.

Sam scowled and marched off through the house. The door slammed. Bronwen had been peeling potatoes, but hesitated. "Should we go get her?"

"Let her have her sulk, Bronnie."

With her fists clenched tightly, Sam marched across the grass to the barn. She tiptoed softly past Hecate, who was absorbed in a thin paperback, and into Salem's stall.

The changeling was peering curiously at a few items in the corner--a ceramic black cat, and a tattered witch's hat. As Sam closed the door behind her, Salem was attempting to nibble on the hat brim.

"You're not supposed to eat it." Sam stroked Salem's mane; he whickered softly. "It's to wear. On your head, y'know." She took it from him and balanced it carefully on his head.

Salem shook it off, not liking the feel of something on top of his ears.

"That's okay. It's just a hat." Sam hung it up on a nail. "That looks good, though. It can be decoration. Mum said Ceres gave it to you because Salem is this place where there were witches. Or where they thought there were witches, or something." She screwed up her face. "I like the kitty, though. Oh, Salem." Sam sat down heavily in the corner. "No one wants to do anything with me. I got wings, but I dunno how to fly. And no one will teach me. And no one will play baseball with me, either. And I still miss Seline."

Salem nuzzled her gently, alarmed by her sudden temper. He wasn't quite sure what to do with Samantha, but he liked her well enough.

"I don't mean it, Salem. You're really nice. Your nose tickles, though." Sam rubbed his nose; Salem liked that. His tail twitched.

"Bronnie, get your coat on. Bronnie, now!"

Bronwen peered sleepily at her mother. "What's going on?"

Sunny exhaled. She was pale, and still in her pajamas underneath her heavy winter coat. "Hecate woke up, and Salem was gone, and Sam's gone too, and it's snowing, and... and... just get your coat and boots on. The snow's falling and it's covering up their tracks and we don't have a lot of time before we lose it entirely. We're going to do a complete sweep."

Bronnie stumbled out of bed, pulling on woolly socks and the boots her mother had brought for her without changing out of her snuggly PJ's. "Which way?"

"The signs go south, through the forest. I want you to stick with Hecate and do a ground search. I'm going to be checking things out from above."

Bronnie nodded. She shrugged into her coat, flexed her wings, and hurried out after Sunny.

Hecate was waiting for them, stamping nervously. "Ready?"

"Yeah." Sunny took another deep breath. "You two go on after the tracks. I need a minute to change, and I'll head out in front."

"Like we planned. Come on, Bronnie." Hecate nodded to Bronwen, who swung up onto the centaur's back. After a moment to get her footing in the snow, Hecate took off a brisk canter after the fading hoofprints while Bronnie clung to her shoulders.

A few minutes later, Sunny flew over them in her true shape, her silvery colour making her nearly invisible in the snowy sky.

"What do you think?"

Shaking her head, Hecate rose from the snow. "They went this way, definitely, but they crossed trails here, with some other hoofed quadraped about the same size as Salem... probably a deer. And I feel stupid for not being able to tell the difference between solid and cloven hoofprints, but it's snowed enough that I'm not sure which way to go."

"You think we should split up?" Bronnie asked.

"I really don't think so."

With a soft thump and squeak of snow, Sunny alighted nearby, cautious to avoid hitting her wings on the trees. She shook her head, her webbed crest flaring in her agitation.

"Sunny," Hecate began, "the trail's confused--"

"It's okay, I've seen them." The dragon bobbed her head and stretched a wingspar to indicate a direction. "They've gone that way. They took off at a run..."

"Maybe you spooked them?" Hecate suggested.

"That's ridiculous! I mean..."

"Sunny. Has either of them actually seen you like this before?"

"Well, of course--" Sunny hesitated. "Well, not Salem, I suppose. But Sam must've... oh dear." Her ears drooped. "Oh, I'm an idiot."

"Never mind. We'll have to explain later." Hecate patted Sunny's neck. "Let's hurry."

"Er. They're not alone anymore."

Sunny gave a nervous snort. "What do you mean, Hecate?"

The centaur shook her head. "They met up with another creature around here. Or possibly creatures. I see hoofprints, here, and they're definitely horse's hooves, but they're too big to be Salem's. And these here," she gestured, "don't look like anything I'm familiar with. Maybe some sort of giant bird. And weirdly, they look like they belong to one creature with a four-legged gait. I'd say a hippogriff, if it were the claws in front, but..."

"It's Alighieri. Oh, fire and ash." Sunny's webbed crest flared stiffly for a moment, shedding the snow. "I will kill him. I really will kill him. I--"

"Calm down," Hecate soothed. "Who's Alighieri?"

"A dark changeling. I... think he's possibly insane. He tried and tried to get Seline to leave him and help him... I don't know. Drive everyone but the changelings off the island. I don't know what he's planning." She dug her claws deep into the frozen ground.

Bronnie stared at the prints, uncomprehendingly. "He's trying the same with Salem?"

"I suppose so," Sunny moaned.

"You know," Hecate said softly, "Salem's already half-way to hating humans, and things that look human, as much as Alighieri must."

"And Sam?" Bronnie pressed.

"We have to hurry," Sunny said shortly.

Bronnie was the first one to struggle into the cave, followed closely by Hecate, and last of all by Sunny, who'd had to take a moment to shift forms because there was no way she was going to get through that crack in the rock in her dragon shape.

Sunny was so distressed, so frightened and angry, however, that she was looking even more draconic than Bronnie usually did; she was scaled silver over most of her naked body, with clawed hands and feet, wide wings touched with gold, a webbed crest clearly visible through sparse blonde hair.

Alighieri turned to them with a disgusted air. This is not a place for your kind.

Salem laid his ears back, unsure of what to make of Sunny's odd appearance, and Sam gave a whimper.

"It's all right, Sam," Sunny said. "It's me. It's mum. I just look a little different right now. Remember we talked about dragons?"

Sam nodded slowly; she remembered this conversation, why Mum had horns and her sister was even stranger looking. She slipped away from Salem, and came to embrace her mother, only slightly disturbed by the scales.

"Go wait with Bronnie and Hecate," Sunny said, and the little girl did. "Salem, I... I don't know what Alighieri has been saying. But he lies. Believe me, he lies."

I lie? Alighieri cooed, his voice silky. I'm not the one who has kept my true nature a secret from you, am I?

Salem's ears were still flat against his head. He struggled to his feet, and looked between Sunny and Alighieri.

Now, look at this. Here she comes, telling you that I lie, when she has never made mention of what she truly is. Sundragyn, you are not human, are you?

"No." Sunny's claws flexed. She was considering whether or not, if it came to a fight, she'd be able to hold her own. She might be able to, but she would be severely hurt. Alighieri had more bulk, even when she was half-and-half like this, but a dragon is made to be a fighter and a hunter, while Alighieri was a horse, even if a clawed and dangerous one. "No, I'm not. But I've never claimed to be."

Never claimed to be? You seemed quite happy to let Salem--and others--believe you to be human.

"Don't tempt me, horse," Sunny muttered under her breath. Louder, she said, "Salem, I am a dragon. There's no getting around that. I'm not ashamed of that, but I've been living as human for a long time. Shapeshifting is hard, and I don't change form unless I have to. I came after you tonight in my true shape, because I could travel faster, and I realised that I frightened you and Sam. That was never my intention. And it's true I never told you, but I never intended to keep it a secret."

Lies, Alighieri hissed. His dark colour made him hard to see in the cave.

Salem made a soft whickering sound. Sunny, used to the close understanding she and Seline shared, didn't immediately realise what this was, but Sam piped up, "He wants to know about Seline, I think."

Sunny gave Alighieri a sharp glance. "Seline came to me just as you did, Salem. She had been abandoned by her first protector. This was before Bronnie was born, let alone Samantha; before Hecate moved in with us; before we even lived by the sea. I moved to the sea because of her, in fact."

You drove her away.

"I never did." Sunny's tail whipped from side to side. "She always had an affinity for water. It was that which took her to the sea. She was growing gills, Salem. She had to let the change happen, or die of it." The dim light from the crack in the rock reflected off her glasses as she looked over at Alighieri. "And she hated you. You tried to kill me. I would be dead if it weren't for the Gorrimmao." She jabbed a clawed finger in his direction. "Bronnie's egg would have been smashed. I would be dead. Sam would never have been born. Salem would still be getting shuffled from person to person, most likely."

He would have gone wild, Alighieri said, his eyes rolling. It would have been the way he was meant to be.

"I don't think you know as much about changelings as you think you do. I told you, on the beach, to stay away from my family. Salem is part of my family for as long as he wishes it. If he chooses to leave, it will be because of his decisions, not yours." Sunny's head was lowered, with just a tendril of smoke rising from her mouth when she spoke. "I do not want to fight you, Alighieri. Not here."

Alighieri's only answer was a disdainful snort.

"Salem, come home with me. Please. I can arrange for you to meet with Seline, and you can talk to her yourself. Then, if you still agree with Alighieri... I won't stop you."

There was silence, for a time.

The five of them left, soon after that, leaving Alighieri angry and alone.

Seline had been swimming aimlessly for a long time, merely exploring.

She was afraid to return to the city, afraid of the Lady, afraid of... she wasn't sure.

So she swam, and explored, and grazed upon the kelp, and was content in her loneliness.

The shell she wore around her neck, however...

It was calling.

Sunny needed her.

Seline thought nothing of returning. It was Sunny, after all. She knew Sunny would do anything for her. Seline knew this with a startlingly simple faith.

Therefore, she would do anything for Sunny.

Saved.